/ 


--  Co '  ^<j^><^"^^^^^^-^ 


Farmington  Two  Hundred  Years  Ago 


AN 


HISTORICAL  ADDRESS 


5 


DELIVERED   AT   THE 


annual  flbeeting 


The  Village  Library  Company 

OF 

Farmington,  Connedicut 

September  14,  1904 


»f  California 

Regional 

Facility 


By  JULIUS  GAY 


The  Case,  Lockwood  &  Brainard  Company 
1904 


Farmington  Two  Hundred  Years  Ago 


AN 

HISTORICAL  ADDRESS 

DELIVERED    AT    THE 

Hnnual  HDeeting 

OF 

The  Village  Library  Company 

OF 

Farmington,  Connecticut 

September   14,  1904 


By  JULIUS  GAY 


■fcartforD  press: 

The  Case,  Lockwood  &  Brainard  Company 
1904 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  witii  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.arcliive.org/details/farmingtontwohunOOgayjialc 


ADDRESS. 


Ladies  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Village  Library  Company  of 
Farmington  : 

Two  hundred  years  ago,  that  is,  on  the  14th  day  of  Sep- 
tember, 1704,  this  town  had  existed  sixty- four  years.  Its 
polity,  whether  civil,  ecclesiastical,  or  social,  had  become  firmly 
settled.  Its  inhabitants  were  loyal  subjects  of  good  Queen 
Anne,  voted  every  year  for  Major-General  Fitz-John  Win- 
throp  for  governor,  and  for  John  Hooker,  Esq.,  and  the 
"  Worshipful  Captain  John  Hart "  for  deputies,  stood  stoutly 
to  their  own  opinions  in  matters  ecclesiastical,  and  lived  the 
lives  of  prosperous  farmers. 

Geographically  considered,  the  town  was  a  rectangle  fifteen 
miles  long  from  north  to  south,  and  eleven  broad  from  east 
to  west,  the  Round  Hill  being  the  starting  point  for  measure- 
ments. With  the  exception  of  the  main  street  and  a  locality 
next  to  Simsbury  known  as  Hart's  Farm  the  whole  region 
was  the  lawful  hunting  ground  of  the  Tunxis  Indians  and 
the  home  of  wild  beasts.  Wolves  were  numerous,  as  were 
also  animals  of  the  wild  cat  variety,  magnified  of  record  into 
lions  and  panthers.  The  reward  for  their  destruction,  along 
with  crows,  blackbirds,  and  other  objectionable  animals,  was 
a  fruitful  source  of  revenue  to  the  adventurous  youths  of  the 
village.  Scattered  here  and  there  were  lands  known  as  "  Sol- 
dier Lots,"  given  those  who  had  served  against  the  Pequot, 
together  with  many  broad  acres  granted  the  minister,  and 
lesser  holdings  bestowed  upon  those  who  had  deserved  well 
of  their  fellows.  The  owners  were  allowed  to  locate  their 
grants  anywhere  outside  of  the  village  subject  to  the  approval 


20135^i^5 


of  a  committee,  provided  they  did  not  trespass  on  highways 
or  previous  grants.  These  grants,  known  as  "  pitches,"  were 
much  in  the  way  when  the  surveying  out  of  rectangular  lots 
began  in  1721,  and  made  an  oldtime  map  much  resemble  the 
so-called  crazy  quilt.  A  fence  or  a  combination  of  fence  and 
ditch  ran  from  Nod  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  south  to  the 
Eighty  Acre  meadow,  and  another  along  the  north  bank  of 
the  river  west  to  Crane  Hall.  The  three  principal  openings 
through  this  fence  were  closed  by  the  North  and  South 
Meadow  gates  and  by  the  Eighty  Acre  bars.  Every  spring 
the  Proprietors  of  Common  Fields  voted  when  the  meadows 
should  be  cleared  of  all  sorts  of  cattle,  and  every  fall  when 
they  could  again  be  used  for  pasturage.  Woe  to  the  sluggard 
who  left  his  corn  and  beans  unharvested  a  day  too  long! 
Before  knocking  off  the  fetters  by  which  they  had  been  re- 
strained, and  turning  neat  cattle,  sheep,  and  swine  into  the 
meadows,  each  owner  marked  the  ears  of  his  animals  for  future 
identification.  Their  private  forms  of  mutilation,  by  the  crop, 
the  half-penny,  the  slit,  and  the  swallow  tail,  were  duly  re- 
corded by  the  town  clerk  and  were  the  inviolable  property  of 
each  owner.  Thomas  Gridley  used  "  a  half-penny  on  ye  upper 
side  of  ye  left  ear  " ;  Thomas  Judd,  Sen.,  "  a  half-penny  on 
ye  under  side  of  ye  left  ear  " ;  John  Cowles  "  a  crop  cut  upon 
the  left  ear  and  a  half-penny  cut  on  each  side  of  ye  right  ear  " ; 
and  so  on  down  the  list. 

Before  introducing  to  you  the  ancient  denizens  of  the 
village,  let  us  consider  a  moment  the  streets  which  their  daily 
steps  brought  into  existence  and  along  which  their  houses 
arose.  The  main  street  ran  much  as  now.  Starting  from  near 
Cronk  Swamp,  named  from  the  Indian  Coxcronnock,  on  the 
south,  the  first  considerable  branch  we  find  ran  westVard 
through  the  South  Meadow  gate  where  now  runs  the  road  to 
the  railroad  station.  A  little  to  the  north  a  road  ran  east- 
ward between  the  present  holdings  of  Messrs.  Vorce  and 
Porter  to  the  old  mill.     Just  before  reaching  the  meeting- 


5 

house  the  Little  Back  Lane?  so  called,  ran  south  and  also  to 
the  mill.  A  few  rods  further  on  we  reach  the  mill  lane,  which 
ran  westward  to  the  new  mill  on  the  river  and  along  the 
present  north  line  of  the  Deming  property.  Next  we,  come 
upon  the  "  Road  up  the  ]\Iountain,"  now  leading  to  New 
Britain.  Arriving  at  the  north  end  of  the  main  street  we  find 
one  branch  turning  sharply  to  the  east  towards  Hartford  and 
one  westward  to  the  North  Meadow  gate.  A  noble,  broad 
highway  gave  an  uninterrupted  prospect  from  Airs.  Barney's 
west  to  the  river.  The  town  had  not  then  allowed  Deacon 
Richards  to  encumber  it  with  his  shop,  nor  had  the  subsequent 
owners  sought  to  fortify  their  possession  with  a  building  of 
brick  too  huge,  in  their  estimation,  ever  to  be  removed.  Just 
before  reaching  the  river,  a  path  along  the  river  bank,  often 
impassable  by  reason  of  floods,  conducted  northward  to  Nod. 
If  any  desire  on  this  14th  day  of  September,  1704,  to  cross 
the  river,  and  their  business  in  the  wilderness  beyond,  or  per- 
chance with  far-off  Albany,  admits  of  delay,  it  may  be  well 
to  know  that  in  February,  1705,  the  town  will  vote  to  "be 
at  the  charge  of  providing  and  keeping  in  repair  a  canoe  with 
ropes  convenient  for  passing  and  repassing  over  the  river  at 
the  landing-place."  The  subsequent  history  of  this  river  cross- 
ing is  beyond  the  scope  of  this  paper,  but  I  can  hardly  forbear 
stating  that  in  December,  1722,  the  town  "  granted  to  Samuel 
Thomson,  son  of  John,  for  the  charge  he  hath  been  at  in 
recovering  the  canoe  that  was  driven  down  to  Simsbury,  five 
shillings."  In  1728  a  vote  was  passed  to  "  sell  the  boat,  that 
at  present  lies  useless."  The  subsequent  history  of  sundry 
bridges  and  of  the  war  between  the  high  bridge  and  the 
low  bridge  parties,  with  the  frequent  "  I  told  you  so "  of 
the  high  bridge  men,  are  interesting.  As  for  the  highways 
to  the  west  of  the  canoe  place,  the  town  in  1736  took  down 
the  testimony  of-  "  John  Steele,  aged  about  89  years,  and  of 
William  Lewis,  aged  about  82  years,"  concerning  the  roads 
they  remembered  as  running  in  their  boyhood  from  the  North 


Meadow  gate  to  the  south  side  of  Round  Hill,  to  Crane  Hall 
and  to  divers  other  places,  all  which  information  is  open  to 
the  perusal  of  the  curious.  The  branch  known  first  as  the 
road  to  Hartford,  and  then,  as  it  entered  the  forest,  simply 
as  the  Hartford  Path,  crossed  Poke  Brook  as  now,  and, 
climbing  Bird's  Hill,  passed  localities  whose  obsolete  names 
were  once  household  words.  The  traveler  soon  reached  the 
Rock  Chair,  corruptly  known  as  the  Devil's  Rocking  Chair, 
on  his  left,  and  a  few  rods  beyond  came  to  the  Mile  Tree,  near 
the  present  remains  of  the  stone-crusher,  and  opposite  the 
Mile  Swamp  or  Round  Swamp,  of  bad  repute  as  engulfing 
stray  animals  in  its  treacherous  depths.  Then,  leaving  Prat- 
tling Pond  on  his  left  and  the  Wolf-Pit  path  on  his  right, 
his  course  lay  along  the  Old  Road  to  Hartford,  the  favorite 
route  sixty  years  ago.  A  branch,  known  of  record  as  the 
"  Road  to  Durty  Hole,"  ran  north  from  Poke  Brook  to  con- 
nect with  "  Clatter  Valley  Road,"  and  a  highway  running 
south,  recently  named  by  the  wisdom  of  our  borough  fathers 
High  Street,  and  laid  out  in  1673,  was  long  known  as  Back 
Lane. 

■  Three  buildings  of  public  utility  were  ranged  along  these 
streets:  the  meeting-house,  the  schoolhouse,  and  the  mill. 
The  meeting-house,  the  first  of  three  houses  for  public  wor- 
ship, was  built  before  1672,  and  after  frequent  repairs  was 
fast  failing  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  worshipers.  There  were 
doors  on  the  east  and  south.  Negroes  were  required  to  "  sit 
upon  the  bench  that  is  at  the  north  end  of  the  meeting-house 
below."  Liberty  to  build  private  pews  was  granted,  one  in 
1697  "  over  the  short  girt  at  the  easterly  end  of  the  gallery  " ; 
one  the  next  year  "  at  the  south  end  of  the  meeting-house  at 
the  left  as  they  go  in  at  the  door";  one  in  1702  over  the 
south  door  "  to  continue  until  the  town  find  it  obstructive  in 
their  building  a  gallery  " ;  and  one  in  1707  over  the  east  door. 
With  these  as  the  only  hints  I  can  give,  a  lively  imagination 
can  easily  reconstruct  the  building  after  the  manner  of  ar- 
chaeologists. 


A  mill  was  built  by  John  Bronson  on  what  was  long  known 
as  Mill  Brook,  until  our  more  sentimental  age  named  the 
locality  Diamond  Glen.  It  was  sold  to  Deacon  Stephen  Hart 
before  1650,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  he  erected  a  grist 
mill  in  addition  to  the  well-known  sawmill  before  1673,  for 
on  the  i6th  of  February,  1673,  he  paid  Deacon  Bull  for 
sharpening  his  mill  bills.  Of  course  they  may  have  been  for 
use  at  his  mill  on  the  river,  which  was  built  some  time  before 
1701. 

On  the  27th  of  December,  1687,  the  town  "  voted  that  they 
would  have  a  town  house  to  keep  school  in  built  this  year,  of 
eighteen  foot  square  besides  the  chimney  space,  with  a  suitable 
height  for  that  service."  Votes  about  finishing  the  school- 
house  were  passed  in  1689,  1690,  and  1691.  Let  our  present 
committee  take  courage. 

A  fourth  building,  the  inn,  with  its  swinging  sign,  offering 
entertainment  for  man  and  beast,  may  have  existed.  Colonial 
law  ordered  each  town  to  provide  one  sufficient  inhabitant  to 
keep  an  ordinary  for  the  occasional  entertainment  of  strangers 
in  a  comfortable  manner,  and  Joseph  Root,  at  the  south  end 
of  the  village,  was  appointed  by  the  town  to  attend  to  this 
duty.  The  inn,  however,  was  for  the  stranger,  not  for  the 
townsman.  Anything  like  hotel  or  club  life  was  frowned 
upon.  Every  resident  was  expected  to  be  a  member  of  some 
family.  In  1692  the  town  "  by  vote  gave  to  Joseph  Scott  a 
liberty  to  dwell  alone  provided  he  do  faithfully  improve  his 
time  and  behave  himself  peaceably  towards  his  neighbors  and 
their  creatures  and  constantly  attend  the  public  worship  of 
God,  and  that  he  do  give  an  account  how  he  spends  his  time 
unto  the  townsmen  when  it  shall  be  demanded  by  them  of 
him." 

Of  the  style  and  age  of  the  private  houses  standing  in 
1704  extremely  little  is  known.  It  is  not  impossible  to  trace 
back  the  ownership  of  any  house  lot  to  the  first  settler,  but 
which  of  its  successive  owners  built  any  particular  house  or 


8 

when  it  was  built  can  rarely  be  told.  The  definite  ages  boldly- 
assigned  of  late  to  several  old  houses  admit  neither  of  proof 
or  disproof.  The  best  description  of  the  form  of  the  earlier 
houses  which  I  have  seen  occurs  in  the  appraisal  of  the  estate 
of  Samuel  Gridley  in  1712  and  can  be  found  in  my  paper  on 
the  "  Early  Industries  of  Farmington,"  On  either  side  of  a 
central  hall  were  the  parlor  and  kitchen,  and  back  of  all  the 
leanto.  In  front  was  a  porch  with  a  chamber  over  it.  The 
porch  with  two  stories  was  peculiar  to  the  early  house.  That 
of  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker  in  Hartford  had  one,  and  the  room 
above  was  his  study.  A  house  with  a  porch  projecting  five 
feet  was  built  for  the  first  minister  of  Springfield  and  a  house 
"  with  a  porch  convenient  for  a  study  "  for  the  second  min- 
ister. On  the  east  side  of  High  Street  not  long  ago  stood 
three  houses  of  the  same  style  of  architecture.  The  middle 
one  now  remaining,  commonly  known  as  the  Whitman  house, 
has  been  considerably  altered  in  form  by  recent  additions. 
The  overhanging  upper  story  with  the  conspicuous  pendants 
below  were  the  characteristic  features  of  the  three  houses. 
They  have  often  been  described.  The  northern  of  the  three 
houses,  pulled  down  in  1880,  stood  on  land  conveyed  by  John 
Clark  to  his  son  Matthew,  April  8,  1702,  "  with  the  new  end 
of  a  house  upon  it."  It  is  hard  to  see  how  the  age  of  the 
Clark  house  can  be  carried  back  beyond  that  of  the  new  house 
of  1702.  Houses  of  so  peculiar  construction  usually  mark  the 
fashion  of  some  limited  period.  As  for  the  age  of  the  so-called 
Whitman  house,  John  Stanley,  Sen.,  sold  to  his  son  Thomas 
on  the  23d  of  May,  1700,  the  land  on  which  the  house  now 
stands  together  with  "  my  house  that  I  now  dwell  in  and  do 
reserve  the  new  end  of  the  said  house  and  leanto  adjoining 
to  it."  This  is  not  absolute  proof  that  the  house  began  to  be 
built  in  1700,  but  this,  for  other  reasons,  seems  to  me  likely. 
The  southern  of  these  peculiarly  constructed  houses,  with 
pendants  and  projecting  upper  stories,  stood  on  the  four-acre 
wood  lot  of  Robert  Porter  and  his  descendants,  at  the  north- 


east  corner  of  High  Street  and  the  road  to  New  Britain, 
which  lot  passed  from  Thomas  to  WilHam  Porter  in  171 1 
with  no  mention  of  any  house  thereon.  The  house,  whenever 
built,  faced  south,  and  was  for  many  years  the  tavern  of 
Captain  Joseph  Porter.  I  have  his  tavern  sign,  which  bears 
a  picture  of  a  house  on  one  side  and  on  the  reverse  that  of  a 
goddess  armed  with  helmet,  spear,  and  shield,  in  apparel  better 
befitting  the  heat  of  summer  than  the  blasts  of  winter.  She 
was  doubtless  the  first  goddess  to  bear  on  her  shield  the  three 
grapevines  of  Connecticut. 

A  peculiarity  of  early  New  England  houses,  wooden  chim- 
neys lined  with  clay,  is  suggested  in  a  vote  of  the  town  passed 
in  1656  "  that  every  householder  shall  provide  a  sufficient 
ladder  standing  at  his  house  side,  reaching  to  the  ridge  of 
his  house  or  within  two  feet,  by  his  chimney."  Certain  town 
officers,  known  as  "  chimney  viewers,"  were  to  examine  the 
chimneys  and  ladders  once  in  six  weeks  in  winter  and  once 
a  quarter  in  summer.  Almost  precisely  the  same  vote  was 
passed  in  Hartford  in  1640.  Wooden  chimneys  and  thatched 
roofs,  familiar  to  the  settlers  in  the  old  English  villages  whence 
they  came,  made  necessary  these  safeguards  against  fire.  Brick 
chimneys  were  found  in  the  houses  of  the  wealthy,  but  wooden 
chimneys  lined  with  clay,  known  as  "  catted  chimneys,"  were 
common.  In  Hartford  in  1640  "  it  is  ordered  that  Jo  Gening 
shall  sweep  all  the  chimneys  and  have  6*^  for  brick  and  3*^ 
for  clay."  Salem  in  1638  signs  an  agreement  for  the  building 
of  a  meeting-house  with  "  one  catted  chimney  4  feet  in  height 
above  the  top  of  the  building,  the  back  whereof  is  to  be  of 
brick  or  stone."  In  Cambridge,  whence  our  ancestors  came 
to  Hartford,  it  was  ordered  in  163 1  "that  no  man  shall  build 
his  chimney  with  wood,  or  cover  his  house  with  thatch."  This 
town  elected  chimney  viewers  annually  until  17 12. 

A  Hst  of  all  the  householders  of  1704  from  Bird's  Hill  on 
the  north  down  to  Eighty  Acre  on  the  south,  with  the  sites 
of  their  houses,  would  doubtless  be  about  as  interesting  read- 


10 

ing  as  the  pages  of  a  modern  city  directory.  Let  us  make  a 
few  selections.  On  the  31st  of  March,  1704,  on  news  of  the 
Indian  atrocities  at  Deerfield  a  month  previous,  the  town  voted 
to  have  seven  houses  fortified,  those  of  Thomas  Orton,  Wil- 
liam Lewis,  Howkins  Hart,  James  Wadsworth,  Lieut.  John 
Hart,  John  Wadsworth,  and  Ensign  Samuel  Wadsworth,  in 
which  were  to  be  lodged  the  town  stock  of  powder,  lead,  bul- 
lets, flints,  and  half-pikes.  The  Orton  house  stood  on  the 
Frederick  Andrus  corner  opposite  the  present  house  of  Mrs. 
Barney,  and  it  is  an  interesting  question,  not  easily  answered, 
whether  the  old  house  whose  fast  disappearing  clapboards 
disclose  a  red  brick  lining  be  not  the  old  fortified  house.  Early 
New  England  houses  with  timber  frames  filled  in  with  brick 
were  not  uncommon.  The  William  Lewis  house  stood  on  the 
site  of  the  Elm  Tree  Inn,  and  tradition  claims  that  some  of 
its  ancient  beams  form  a  part  of  the  modern  structure.  The 
Howkins  Hart  house  stood  on  the  site  of  my  own  house.  That 
of  James  Wadsworth  on  that  of  the  late  Miss  Sadie  Gruman ; 
that  of  Lieut.  John  Hart  on  or  near  that  of  the  present  post- 
office;,  that  of  John  Wadsworth  a  little  south  of  the  house  of 
Judge  Deming;  and  that  of  Ensign  Samuel  Wadsworth  at 
the  top  of  the  hill  on  the  right  as  you  look  down  towards  the 
old  mill  brook  where  for  many  years  lived  Deacon  Sidney 
Wadsworth.  They  were  all  on  Main  Street.  There  had  been 
some  attempts  at  fortification  before  this.  After  the  destruction 
of  Schenectady  by  the  French  and  Indians  in  1690,  and  six 
days  after  the  massacre  at  Salmon  Falls  in  New  Hampshire, 
the  town  had  appointed  a  committee  about  fortifying  houses, 
but  no  result  therefrom  is  recorded.  In  1674  Deacon  Bull 
markes  a  charge  for  "  a  gist  [joist]  to  y^  fortt  gatte  off  y^ 
church."  In  1675  for  "  a  gist  to  the  eyrons  off  y^  fortt  gatte," 
and  in  1676  a  "  sixpence  to  y^  eyron  off  y^  fortt  gatte."  Illus- 
trations of  ancient  New  England  meeting-houses  sometimes 
represent  the  house  surrounded  with  a  palisade  with  a  for- 
midable gate.  Some  such  affair  may  have  been  our  fort  at 
the  meeting-house. 


II 

Without  further  consideration  of  the  ancient  fortifications 
of  'the  village  and  its  public  buildings,  let  us  call  at  a  few 
houses  and  learn  what  the  people  busied  themselves  about  in 
the  intervals  of  farm  labor.  If  the  good  people  of  1704  de- 
sired to  build  themselves  a  new  hovise  or  repair  an  old  one 
they  would  probably  have  engaged  the  services  of  Joseph  Bird 
or  of  his  son  Samuel,  who  might  have  been  found  on  the 
present  site  of  the  house  of  Mrs.  S.  E.  Barney,  or  they  could 
call  on  Deacon  Isaac  More,  nearly  opposite  where  I  now  live, 
or  upon  Lieut.  John  Steele.  The  latter  might  have  been  found 
where  the  house  recently  of  Mrs.  Samuel  S.  Cowles,  now  of 
Mr.  Lewis  C.  Root,  stands.  His  tools,  as  they  came  to  Deacon 
Bull  from  time  to  time  for  repair,  illustrate  the  rude  mechanical 
appliances  of  the  day,  —  his  broad  axe,  breast  wimbel,  augers, 
gouge,  tennant  saw,  fore  plane,  creasing  plane,  and  snipebills. 
He  was  also  the  land  surveyor  of  the  village.  In  April,  1673, 
Deacon  Bull  mends  "  his  staff  to  measure  land,"  and  in  1676 
makes  an  iron  point  to  said  staff.  This  must  have  been  the 
"  Jacob  Staff  "  which  all  very  old  surveyors  will  remember. 
The  lieutenant  was  certainly  reasonable  in  his  charges.  In 
1674  Deacon  Bull  paid  him  one  shilling  for  running  a  line. 
In  Hartford  they  did  not  submit  to  any  extortion.  Every  man 
was  his  own  surveyor.  The  Rev.  William  S.  Porter,  quoting 
from  the  ancient  records,  says :  "  The  town  kept  a  surveyor's 
chain  for  the  use  of  the  inhabitants,  subject  to  the  following 
regulation:  It  is  ordered  that  whosoever  borrows  the  town 
chain  shall  pay  two  pence  a  day  for  every  day  they  keep  the 
same,  and  pay  for  mending  it,  if  it  be  broken  in  their  use." 
Another  industry  soon  came  into  being.  When  the  beer  of 
old  England  began  to  give  place  to  cider  and  New  England 
rum,  a  very  large  number  of  barrels  were  needed.  If  the 
goodman  desired  two  or  three  dozen  for  his  winter's  supply 
they  might  be  obtained  of  the  two  coopers,  John  Stedman 
and  Samuel  Bronson,  nearly  opposite  where  Esquire  Egbert 
Cowles  afterward  lived.     Weaving,  besides  what  was  done  in 


^  12 

a  small  way  in  almost  every  household,  occupied  the  atten- 
tion of  several  professional  weavers.  Samuel  Smith  lived  on 
the  site  of  the  park  given  to  the  village  by  Miss  Porter.  John 
Root  from  Northampton  also  had  his  loom  somewhere  in  the 
village.  Other  weavers  were  John  North,  a  little  east  of  the 
cottage  of  Mr.  Newton  Barney  on  the  road  to  Hartford,  John 
Clark,  a  little  south  of  Mrs.  S.  E.  Barney's  in  the  northern 
of  the  three  ancient  houses  previously  mentioned,  Deacon 
Thomas  Porter,  Jr.,  near  the  present  site  of  the  house  of  Judge 
Deming,  and  Joseph  Bird.  Bird  and  Porter  charged  sixpence 
a  yard  for  weaving,  and  this  in  a  great  number  of  instances 
was  the  established  rate.  Joseph  Bird  was  also  a  shoemaker. 
Other  shoemakers  were  Samuel  Orvis,  on  the  west  side  of 
Main  Street  a  little  north  of  the  house  of  Gustavus  Cowles, 
Daniel  Andrews,  on  the  site  of  the  house  of  Dr.  Wheeler,  John 
Newell,  on  or  near  the  house  of  the  late  Elijah  L.  Lewis, 
James  Gridley,  on  the  south  side  of  the  road  to  Hartford  just 
east  of  Poke  Brook,  and  Samuel  Woodruff,  known  mostly, 
after  the  English  fashion,  as  Samuel  Woodruff,  cordwainer. 
As  for  the  price  of  their  products  I  can  only  say  that  Deacon 
Thomas  Bull  sold  Daniel  Andrews  on  the  12th  day  of  January, 
1674,  four  acres  of  land  for  three  pairs  of  shoes,  two  for  him- 
self and  one  for  his  son  John  Bull.  You  can  co-mpute  the 
price  of  shoes  at  your  leisure. 

To  use  all  the  products  of  numerous  looms  I  find  but  one 
professional  tailor,  Thomas  Porter,  son  of  the  first  Robert. 
He  continued  the  business  of  his  brother  John,  who  had  died 
young.  Let  not  the  society  ladies  of  today  suppose  that  they 
alone  have  worn  tailor-made  garments.  In  1677  Obadiah 
Richards  made  for  Elizabeth  Clark  a  waistcoat  at  a  cost  of 
two  shillings.  Probably  her  father,  John  Clark,  wove  and 
furnished  the  cloth.  Obadiah  gave  up  his  lucrative  business 
and  removed  to  Waterbury,  where  he  died  before  1704. 
Thomas  Gridley  was  the  blacksmith  of  the  village,  and  lived 
on  the  southwest  corner  of  the  present  home  lot  of  Mrs.  A. 


13 

D.  Vorce  on  the  road  to  the  old  mill.  Deacon  Thomas  Bull, 
blacksmith,  town  clerk,  and  man  of  affairs,  was  now  dead, 
leaving  an  account  book  which  is  a  mine  of  knowledge  for 
the  student  of  the  early  life  of  the  village.  Of  professional 
men  the  Rev.  Samuel  Hooker  had  finished  a  life  of  much 
usefulness,  and  Dr.  Samuel  Porter  was  at  least  the  most  ac- 
cessible physician,  living  on  what  is  now  the  vacant  lot  next 
south  of  the  post-office.  He  was  son  of  the  famous  Dr.  Daniel 
Porter,  bonesetter.  Thomas  Thomson,  Jr.,  the  other  doctor, 
lievd  on  the  west  side  of  the  Mountain  Spring  road  beyond 
the  house  of  Mr.  Henry  C.  Rice,  in  what  must  have  been  a 
quiet  neighborhood. 

Having  now  taken  a  hasty  survey  of  the  dwellers  here,  their 
streets,  houses,  and  occupations,  let  us  consider  what  matters  of 
public  concern  they  had  most  in  mind  in  this  year  of  1704. 
First  and  foremost,  they  would  themselves  have  placed  the  at- 
tempt to  install  a  worthy  successor  in  the  vacant  pulpit  of  the 
lamented  Hooker.  In  my  paper  of  last  year  you  will  find  all 
the  particulars  of  the  unfortunate  controversy  you  will  prob- 
ably care  for.  The  attempt  to  settle  by  popular  vote  what 
scarcely  two  persons  thought  alike  about  and  concerning  which 
all  felt  most  keenly  was  an  utter  failure.  The  opinions  of  these 
good  people  about  each  other,  expressed  with  great  vigor  in 
town  and  church  meetings  and  set  down  at  length  in  the  testi- 
mony preserved  in  the  state  archives,  show  human  nature  much 
as  in  later  days,  only  more  outspoken. 

There  was  another  matter  of  vital  public  importance  which 
must  have  engaged  their  attention.  On  the  29th  of  February, 
1704,  in  the  dead  of  winter,  when  most  men  felt  secure,  Deer- 
field  was  burned  and  the  inhabitants  either  killed  or  taken  cap- 
tive to  Quebec  by  Indian  savages  set  on  by  the  French  governor 
of  Canada.  The  most  familiar  account  of  the  disaster  is  that 
of  the  Rev.  John  Williams  in  his  "  Redeemed  Captive,"  but  a 
more  circvunstantial  and  exhaustive  account  may  be  fovmd  in 
the  "  History  of  Deerfield,"  by  the  aged  and  learned  Sheldon. 


In  preparation  for  similar  dangers  onr  citizens  had  long  been 
drilled  in  the  military  exercises  of  the  day,  with  the  rude  appli- 
ances then  known  to  the  art  of  war.  Besides  the  flint-lock 
mnsket  of  Queen  Anne's  day,  long  known  as  the  Queen's  Arm, 
a  certain  number  of  the  privates  were  armed  with  pikes.  Pike 
heads  were  made  by  Blacksmith  Bull  for  Goodman  Lanckton, 
John  Steele,  James  Bird,  and  Sergeant  Stanley  at  three  shil- 
lings each.  The  weapon  was  in  use  in  England  until  super- 
seded by  the  bayonet,  between  1690  and  1705,  in  France  in 
1703.  In  Markham's  "  Soldier's  .  Accidence  "  we  are  in- 
structed that  the  pikemen  "  shall  have  strong,  straight,  yet 
nimble  pikes  of  Ash  wood,  well  headed  with  steel  .  .  .  and 
the  full  size  or  length  of  every  pike  shall  be  fifteen  foot  be- 
sides the  head."  Another  writer  of  the  day  speaks  of  the 
pikemen  "  as  a  bewtiful  sight  in  the  battell  and  a  great  terrour 
to  the  enemies.  Such  men  in  the  fronte  of  battailes  in  ould 
tymes  weare  called  men  at  armes."  The  pikemen  were  well 
drilled,  according  to  the  manual,  to  order  your  pike,  to  shoulder 
your  pike,  to  port  your  pike,  to  charge  your  pike,  to  trail  your 
pike,  to  recover  your  pike,  and  so  on,  in  all  twenty-seven 
orders. 

Deacon  Bull  was  the  principal  armorer  of  the  village.  For 
John  North  Senior  he  made  a  new  sword  costing  seven  shil- 
lings and  sixpence.  Other  swords  he  repaired.  For  Robert 
Porter  he  made  a  halberd  at  an  expense  of  three  shillings.  The 
halberd  was  the  distinguishing  arm  of  the  sergeant,  and  con- 
sisted of  three  parts  :  the  spear  to  thrust  or  charge  in  battle,  the 
hatchet  for  cutting,  and  the  hook  for  pulling  down  fascines. 
They  are  still  used  in  the  ornamental  display  of  the  Swiss  Papal 
Guards.  Fortunately  our  valiant  soldiers  had  no  real  fighting 
to  do  against  Indians  or  Frenchmen  with  musket,  pike,  hal- 
berd, or  sword. 

Besides  the  matter  of  the  halberd,  Robert  Porter  pays  the 
deacon  five  shillings  for  "  two  dayes  absente  from  training." 
In  the  next  line  but  one  of  the  old  account  book  we  read  his 


15 

receipt  of  five  shillings  for  schooling  John  Bull,  son  of  the 
deacon,  in  February,  1676.  Three  years  later  he  received  four 
shillings  more  for  the  similar  service.  Whether  Robert  Porter, 
ancestor  of  the  president  of  Yale  and  of  the  founder  of  a 
famous  school,  himself  taught  school  or  some  member  of  his 
family  taught  a  dame's  school,  I  cannot  say.  The  first  known 
schoolmaster  here  was  the  Rev.  John  James,  and  the  second 
was  Luke  Hayes,  concerning  whom  see  my  paper  of  1892. 
Prominent  among  the  educators  of  that  day  born  in  this  vil- 
lage was  John  Hart,  son  of  Captain  Thomas  and  grandson  of 
Deacon  Stephen.  He  was  now,  1704,  a  tutor  at  Yale  College, 
and  w^as  soon  to  be  the  minister  of  Killingworth.  He  was 
the  first  student  who  received  the  Bachelor's  degree  at  Yale. 
The  habits  and  customs  of  the  village,  so  far  as  they  con- 
formed to  those  of  other  towns,  we  have  no  time  to  consider. 
Early  New  England  life  in  general  you  will  find  depicted  with 
great  care  and  vigor  in  the  several  books  of  Mrs.  Alice  Morse 
Earle.  We  have  time  only  for  the  happenings  in  our  own 
midst.  These,  so  far  as  they  come  to  our  knowledge  from 
court  records,  are  apt  to  disclose  rather  the  errors  than  the  vir- 
tues of  our  ancestors,  and  must  not  be  thought  a  fair  picture  of 
the  land  of  steady  habits.  Minor  trangressions,  thus  brought 
to  light,  the  guardians  of  the  village  sought  to  correct,  not  by 
fining  parties  who  had  not  a  penny  to  pay  with,  or  by  boarding 
them  in  jail  at  the  town's  expense.  They  had  a  more  eflFectual 
remedy  and  a  cheaper,  the  stocks.  The  offender  was  ordered 
"  set  on  a  few  minutes  before  the  Thursday  afternoon  lecture 
began  and  kept  on  until  a  little  after  the  close  of  the  service." 
Our  ancestors  were  wise  in  their  day  and  generation,  and  their 
Thursday  afternoon  meetings  were  well  attended.  For  hard- 
ened offenders  the  time  was  sometimes  changed  to  training- 
day,  with  its  ruder  gatherings.     Thomas ,  the  one  black 

sheep  of  an  honorable  family,  "  for  his  night  walking  .  ,  . 
is  adjudged  to  sit  in  the  stocks  one  hour  and  a  half  the  next 
training-day."     Three  scamps,  too  large  a  number  to  be  ac- 


i6 

commodated  in  one  set  of  stocks,  "  for  their  agreeing  to  rob 
Richard  Smith  of  his  watermelons  and  steaHng  five  of  them 
in  a  boastful  manner,  bragging  of  the  same,  are  sentenced  to 
go  to  prison  and  there  continue  during  the  pleasure  of  the 
court."  Another  man  concerned  in  the  watermelon  raid  was 
complained  of  for  speaking  "  reproachfully  of  the  Worshipful 
Thomas  Wells  Esq.  now  at  rest,"  and  for  a  still  worse  ofifense 
is  adjudged  to  suffer  imprisonment  .  .  .  until  the  next 
Lecture  at  Hartford  and  to  sit  in  the  stocks  during  the  time  of 
the  lecture."  The  lecture  sermons  were  none  of  the  shortest. 
Currency,  whether  gold,  silver,  or  paper,  was  practically  un- 
known. When  a  man  died  and  his  estate  was  inventoried,  a 
few  shillings  were  sometimes  found  hoarded  up.  Business 
was  done  by  barter,  wheat  at  four  shillings  the  bushel  being 
the  basis.  It  corresponded  to  our  gold  standard.  Lower 
prices  were  charged  with  the  proviso  that  payment  should  be 
in  wheat.  Indian  corn  was  two  and  one-half  shillings  per 
bushel,  pork  three  pence  the  pound,  beef  2^,  bacon  8,  venison 
i^,  cheese  5,  sugar  (probably  maple)  5,  flax  12,  wool  18,  and 
candles  9.  A  whole  salmon  sold  for  one  shilling.  Instead  of 
tallow  candles  a  cheaper  substitute  was  largely  used.  In  1696 
the  town  voted  that  no  inhabitant  should  be  prohibited  from 
felling  pine  trees  in  our  sequestered  lands  for  candle  wood. 
The  same  right  was  again  granted  in  1703.  The  Rev.  Francis 
Higginson,  in  his  "  New  England's  Plantation,"  written  in  the 
year  1629,  writes :  "  Yea  our  pine-trees  that  are  the  most 
plentiful  of  all  wood,  doth  allow  us  plenty  of  candles  which  are 
very  useful  in  a  house :  and  they  are  such  candles  as  the  Indians 
use,  having  no  other,  and  they  are  nothing  else  but  the  wood  of 
the  pine  tree  cloven  into  little  slices,  something  thin,  which  are 
so  full  of  the  moisture  of  turpentine  and  pitch,  that  they  burn 
as  clear  as  a  torch." 

.  And  now  with  this  illumination,  bright  enough  doubtless, 
but  smoking  like  yEtna,  when  the  day's  work  was  done,  and  the 
great  spinning-wheel  was  giving  out  its  drowsy  hum,  what 


17 

literature  had  the  good  man  with  which  to  while  away  the 
evening  hours,  if  his  taste  lay  in  that  direction?  For  books 
he  had  probably  something  theological  by  Increase  Mather, 
and  perchance  some  of  the  earlier  works  of  Cotton  Mather. 
Let  us  hope  all  the  young  ones  were  safe  in  bed  while  the  lurid 
pictures  of  devils,  witches,  and  ghosts  in  the  "  Wonders  of  the 
Invisible  World  "  were  the  theme.  You  can  learn  more  of  this 
literature  in  my  account  of  the  library  of  a  village  blacksmith 
if  you  desire.  The  "  New  England  Primer,"  another  book 
doubtless  on  his  shelves,  has  been  so  much  written  about  of 
late  that  you  will  hardly  care  to  know  more  of  it,  and  per- 
chance some  of  the  older  members  of  the  audience  may  re- 
member sufficiently  their  own  experience. 

Next  to  the  Bible  the  book  most  frequently  in  use  was  the 
almanac.  In  this  the  good  man  noted  at  the  proper  dates  in- 
formation concerning  his  crops,  his  animals,  and  the  vital  sta- 
tistics of  his  family.  Each  month  was  introduced  by  a  couplet 
in  doggerel  verse,  not  altogether  uninteresting.  Much  pro- 
verbial wisdom  was  scattered  through  it ;  but  the  main  purpose 
of  the  work  was  to  reveal  the  future.  The  farmer,  from  the 
changes  of  the  moon  and  the  countless  maxims  of  the  weather- 
wise,  learned  when  to  sow  or  reap,  or  he  could  find  the  weather 
already  foretold  with  the  usual  precision  of  "  about  these  days 
expect  rain."  He  had  the  choice  among  four  almanacs  in  the 
year  1704,  two  English  and  two  printed  in  Boston.  The 
English  almanacs,  of  which  that  of  the  famous  Partridge  was 
the  favorite,  still  printed  the  astrological  diagram  of  the  twelve 
houses  of  heaven  and  the  positions  of  the  twelve  signs  of  the 
zodiac,  and  of  the  seven  planets,  —  the  melancholy  Saturn,  the 
benevolent  Jupiter,  the  quarrelsome  IMars,  the  amorous  Venus, 
etc.,  deducing  therefrom  the  events  of  the  coming  year.  Part- 
ridge, from  the  conjunction  of  Saturn  and  Jupiter  in  Aries, 
says,  "  I  do  predict  a  war  " ;  a  very  safe  prediction  so  long  as 
Louis  XIV.  remained  on  the  throne  of  France.  The  favorite 
almanac  was  that  of  Clough,  published  in  Boston.     Knowing 


i8 

his  readers  well  he  shrewdly  warns  the  pious  against  all  this 
astrology,  "  forasmuch  as  the  practice  thereof  has  not  been 
usual  in  this  country  and  the  lawfulness  of  it  is  doubted  by 
many  divines  .  .  .  but  take  more  heed  to  that  sure  word  of 
prophecy  as  the  Apostle  Peter  says."  The  rival  almanac  was 
the  "  New  England  Kalendar,"  by  a  Lover  of  Astronomy. 
Clough  and  the  unknown  compiler  of  the  latter  amused  them- 
selves with  unpleasant  criticisms  of  each  other,  which  the 
modern  critic  would  strongly  suspect  were  written  for  adver- 
tising purposes  by  the  same  pen,  as  their  works  were  printed 
from  the  same  type  at  the  same  shop.  Another  English  alma- 
nac, dealing  with  astrology,  that  of  Colson,  appears  in  an  in- 
ventory of  a  Boston  bookseller  in  1700. 

One  other  source  of  information  about  the  outside  world 
had  just  been  given  the  intelligent  readers  of  the  village. 
On  the  17th  of  April  of  this  year  the  Boston  News-Letter,  the 
earliest  newspaper  published  on  this  continent  that  had  a  con- 
tinuous existence,  began  its  career  of  seventy-two  years.  Copies 
must  have  reached  our  village  and  been  passed  from  hand  to 
hand  by  all  eager  for  news  from  lands  beyond  the  sea,  and 
will  tell  us  what  the  men  of  1704  were  thinking  about  and 
talking  of  in  their  wilderness  home.  Tlie  first  number  tells 
principally  of  the  French  attempts  to  place  the  pretender  on 
the  English  throne,  and  of  the  brilliant  successes  of  American 
over  French  privateers.  The  next  week  we  have  letters  sup- 
posed to  have  been  written  from  all  parts  of  the  habitable 
world,  revealing  the  secret  intentions  of  sundry  kings  and 
potentates.  A  fortnight  later  we  have  much  royal  correspond- 
ence about  the  Spanish  succession,  the  crowding  of  400  per- 
sons into  the  dungeons  of  the  Inquisition,  and  Indian  atrocities 
in  Maine.  On  May  22d  comes  the  news  of  a  violent  storm 
in  London,  —  church  spires  blown  down  and  London  Bridge 
stopped  up  with  the  wreck  of  vessels.  Number  9,  on  the 
1 2th  of  June,  announces  a  fast  proclaimed  by  the  Queen  in 
reference  to  the  heavy  judgment  of  the  Almighty  in  the  ter- 


19 

rible  and  dreadful  storm  of  November  26th;  also  of  the  cap- 
ture of  privateers,  a  frequent  event.  Number  10  gives  a  letter 
dated  October  30th  from  Constantinople,  announcing  the  pub- 
lic entry  of  the  Grand  Signior  with  great  solemnity  and  "  with 
all  the  ceremonies  used  on  the  like  occasions,"  such  as  the  be- 
heading of  the  eldest  son  of  the  late  Mufti.  At  home  we  have 
sentence  of  death  passed  on  seventeen  pirates,  advertisements 
for  lost  goods,  including  one  for  the  return  of  Penelope,  "  a 
well  set,  middle  sized  Madagascar  Negro  woman,"  with  a 
flowered  damask  gown;  also  the  last  dying  speeches  of  six 
pirates  and  the  exhortations  and  prayers  of  the  ministers  at 
great  length.  In  Number  11  we  have  several  new  shocks  of 
an  earthquake,  and  a  letter  to  the  Pope  from  "Adrian  Saghed, 
by  the  Grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  Emperor  of  Ethiopia, 
Nubia,  Sheba  and  all  the  confines  of  Arabia  &c,  of  Glorious 
Race,  descending  from  Queen  Sheba,  humbling  his  Enemies, 
and  defending  such  who  have  recourse  to  him ;  The  Pillar  of 
the  Christian  Faith,  &c.  King  of  Soldiers  and  Armies  never 
subdued,  Lord  in  power  and  words,  with  unexpressible  modera- 
tion. Full  Moon  of  his  Kingdom,  without  any  Eclipse,"  etc. 
He  asked  for  missionaries.  On  the  loth  of  July  we  have  more 
particulars  of  the  ways  of  the  Inquisition  and  an  order  of 
Queen  Anne  "  to  the  master  of  our  revels  and  to  both  com- 
panies of  Comedians  Acting  in  Drury-Lane  and  Lincolns-Inn- 
Field,  to  take  special  care  that  nothing  be  acted  in  either  of  the 
Theatres  contrary  to  Religion  or  good  manners  .  .  .  that 
no  woman  be  allowed  to  presume  to  wear  a  visard  Mask  in 
either  of  the  Theatres."  Number  14,  July  17th,  contains  a 
long  and  circumstantial  account  of  the  destruction  of  Minas, 
the  land  of  Longfellow's  "  Evangeline."  On  July  31st  we 
have  more  successes  of  Yankee  privateers  and  further  particu- 
lars of  the  utter  wiping  out  of  Minas.  On  July  24th  and  31st 
we  hear  more  of  privateers  and  of  the  destruction  of  Minas. 
On  the  7th  of  September,  1704,  the  date  of  our  account,  the 
news  of  the  great  event  of  the  vear  was  on  its  three-months' 


20 

journey  to  Boston,  and  had  not  yet  reached  the  happy  ears  of 
the  villagers.  The  battle  of  Blenheim  was  on  the  2d  of 
August,  O.  S.,  shattering  the  power  of  Louis  XIV.  and  making 
religious  freedom  possible.  With  this  account  of  Farmington 
in  1704,  its  men,  their  homes,  occupations,  and  customs,  and 
of  the  light  from  the  outside  world  just  breaking  upon  them, 
we  must  bid  them  a  long  farewell. 


A     000  444  740     5 


University  of  Cailfomia 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LiBRARY  FACILITY 

405  Hilgard  Avenue,  Los  Angeles,  CA  90024-1388 

Return  this  material  to  the  library 

from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


QlJANlfi  1996 
REC'D  LOURl 


Uni 


